What Are You Celebrating?? Air Conditioning!! A July 2010 TR UPDATE 12/11 p24

[Mndisneygirl]

So, I believe I left off after we enjoyed lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby. I wanted to ad that without the DxDP, our meal would have cost us $152 before tip!!! We would never normally spend that or eat that much!

So, we decided it was time to use our FPs for Toy Story Midway Mania!!!


This was at about 1:45. Want to come back 6 hours later? I don't think so!!

Shouldn't we be wearing these?

Sarah's ready to play!!

I took a really cute video of Paige dancing while we were just about to get on the ride. She didn’t know I was doing it. The ride had stopped for a minute and she was wearing her glasses and just having a good time! I’ll try to figure out how to post that!

We'll see if that works!

I rode with Paige. I scored 104,000 and she scored 60,000. At least I can beat a 7 year old!! DH rode with Sarah and he scored 125000 to her 75000.

Even the trash cans are cute in this area!!

Next we wandered over to Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

It’s always so cold in there and then you get wet!! BRRR even on a hot day! I love that show though. Too bad there’s always some poor kid who gets scared and cries.

By then it was around 2:30 and we were thinking of heading back to BC, but decided to shop and then just go over to AKL directly. Saved us a lot of travel time and we wouldn’t have much time to swim or anything anyway. We shopped a bit. I had to restrain myself from so much cute stuff! I did have to fit it all in suitcases to get home! 
DH found a nice Mickey watch and a sweatshirt jacket. 

We saw some of the Block Party Bash as we made our way to the exit. The CMs were rather fussy about standing in front of the store doors for some reason. So we went further inside the stores!

cont. in next post...

 

[Mndisneygirl]

We took the bus to AKL from DHS. The bus driver was friendly, but I thought sort of um, odd. There were two teenage girls seated right behind him. He was chatting with them, sort of joking. Not like the typical chatter. He asked them their names and all, and it just seemed weird. It was borderline creepy. I don’t know.

We got to AKL and wandered around.

We had about an hour to kill before our dinner at BOMA!!! We went out to the Savannah

and saw some of these friends.

Sarah took this one!

We talked with a guide who was outside and asked why this poor felllow always had one side tilted down She said it was something like a tumor in one of his horns that made one side heavier. It was something like that. I felt so bad for him!! Poor thing! How sad is that?

We sat in the awesome lobby, took some pictures and I wrote in my journal.

Went back into Zawadi (store) and bought some postcards, got Paige her animal print Mickey sundress (You will se it in many upcoming pictures - she wore it a lot!!) and got Sarah a T-shirt. We got two beach towels with the purchase with purchase deal. (How was I going to pack those!?!?!)

Finally it was time for

I had really been looking forward to this meal. I am an adventurous eater, and my family isn't. I had been assured by many that there was enough "plain" food that they would not starve, so I booked it. OH MY GOSH!!!!
I am so glad I did! It is now one of our family favorites. DH says we have to go back and he thinks it was more worth 2 TS than Brown Derby!! Of course, thankfully it is only 1 TS and it was pretty dang good food!!

We arrived about 5 minutes prior to our ADR and were given a buzzer. I had not stepped 5 feet away from the counter and it started buzzing!!! We were seated and had a wonderful server named Amy from Iowa. She was really nice and helpful when telling us about some of the foods. DH ate TONS of meat, the ribs were his favorite! I tried so many things! I really liked the sun-dried tomato hummus. The kids enjoyed the chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, fries and fruit and of course, desserts!! See, plain food eaters!!
It was a lot of fun and it was quite noisy in there. I didn't take too many pictures of the food, but we did sample ALL of the desserts!

Oh, we definitely give BOMA a big thumbs up!!! DH has requested, no DEMANDED, that I book it for our next trip!

After we "paid" our bill with dining credits instead of the $110 it would have cost, we popped down to The Mara and bought some zebra domes to take with us.
We hopped a bus to DHS and then snagged a boat headed back to the Beach Club.

We headed to the pool around 8:30. Of course, they had just cleared everyone out of the pool due to lightning in the area!!! DANG! So we walked around the Boardwalk and watched a really great magician. He was really funny!
We saw some of Illuminations from over on the boardwalk and headed back to BC. The girls and DH went swimming. They had not changed out of their suits from before, but I had and was too lazy to re-do that! So, I got myself a strawberry guava Sunset from Hurricane Hannas and watched them swim, did some FB updates and relaxed in a lounge chair!!!

Yummy!!
SIL and her family came to meet us by the pool. We met my nephew's fiancee for the first time and we all walked over to Beaches and Cream. It was certainly busy for 10 p.m. We used some snack credits to buy SIL and family each an ice cream cone. We were too full. Of course, the girls wanted some, but I was mean mommy and said no. It was 10:30 p.m. after all!
We finally made it to our room to go to bed around 11:15 - 11:30. I was sort of sad, since I knew this was our last night at BC. I wrote in my journal that I wanted to stay and needed another Epcot day.
Would I get it? stay tuned...

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Love the Updates Sheree!!!

I the video of Paigey dancing!!! Sooooo cute!!! (It looked similar to the "dance" my girls do when they need to visit the restroom!!! )

We were supposed to go to Boma on our first trip back in January of 2009 but I panicked at the last minute and changed it!! I think we will need to try that one!! It looks yummy!

Oh, btw, congratulations on your DVC booking!!! AKL looks soooo beautiful - you will have a marvelous time! I am so envious that you will there for the Flower and Garden Festival!!! That week is our March Break too - we will NOT be going to Disney that week!! I don't like the number 9!!

Keep it coming girlie - you are doing a fabulous job!!!

 

[natebenma]

Enjoyed your update, Sheree! What a nice afternoon with Toy Story and the Little Mermaid! Boma is one of our family's favorites too, so glad you all enjoyed a wonderful meal.

I like the pictures you posted of the garbage cans and the welcome mat to the AKL- maybe that was a subliminal message about your future DVC purchase. "Welcome to AKL"

What a fun evening! The best of Boardwalk and the Beach Club- entertainment, some fireworks, a swim, a yummy drink, ice cream and family- perfect!

 

[MEK]

Great update. Great day. You sure had some great meals that day - BD and Boma - two of my favorites. I haven't eaten at Boma for several years, so I think its time to go back.

You got some beautiful pictures of HS and the savannah at AK. I love all the general viewing areas they have there. Its so cool to see the animals so up close and personal. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the animal with the big horns, but to be lopsided like that looks so uncomfortable.

Glad you got a little down time later in the evening with that yummy drink!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Hurray for loving Boma!!! I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much! It sounds like your DH had much the same reaction to it that Charles does!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Great update. Cute video of Paige dancing! AKL and Boma look awesome! We are going to visit the AKL for the first time ever on this trip, but we are just going to eat at Mara. Can't wait!

Sounds like a fun evening at the BC ad BW.

 

[Dugette]

Great update! I'm so glad you tried Boma and everyone liked it! We ate dinner there back on our Sept. 2009 trip and just loved it! Yum yum!

Spending time at AKL is so nice! We saw that lopsided Ankole Cattle on our June trip when we stayed at AKL. I think we have some video of him on our TR, even. I had wondered why he was so lopsided...thanks for finding out for me! I feel so sorry for him...poor guy!

Enjoying the report, looking forward to more. And congrats on your DVC!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Love the Updates Sheree!!!

I the video of Paigey dancing!!! Sooooo cute!!! (It looked similar to the "dance" my girls do when they need to visit the restroom!!! )

We were supposed to go to Boma on our first trip back in January of 2009 but I panicked at the last minute and changed it!! I think we will need to try that one!! It looks yummy!

Oh, btw, congratulations on your DVC booking!!! AKL looks soooo beautiful - you will have a marvelous time! I am so envious that you will there for the Flower and Garden Festival!!! That week is our March Break too - we will NOT be going to Disney that week!! I don't like the number 9!!

Keep it coming girlie - you are doing a fabulous job!!!

Thanks Kim!! She was so funny and had no idea what I was doing since I used my phone, she thought I was facebooking or something. That music is so cute to dance to!
I wish you were going in March too!! I will have to make sure I have a BIG empty memory card for all the pictures!
I hope I can do another update this weekend. Have a volleyball game to coach in an hour and then a Halloween dance at school. Maybe tomorrow.

Enjoyed your update, Sheree! What a nice afternoon with Toy Story and the Little Mermaid! Boma is one of our family's favorites too, so glad you all enjoyed a wonderful meal.

I like the pictures you posted of the garbage cans and the welcome mat to the AKL- maybe that was a subliminal message about your future DVC purchase. "Welcome to AKL"

What a fun evening! The best of Boardwalk and the Beach Club- entertainment, some fireworks, a swim, a yummy drink, ice cream and family- perfect!

Thanks Dee! It was a good DHS day for us. Pretty relaxed and even though it was hot, we survived.
I have another subliminal message later in our trip - actually not at WDW, but it was a bit foreshadowing now that we look back on it!
I really enjoyed how relaxed we were on this trip - we just did what we wanted and enjoyed everything (but the sweating).
Kicking back while the kids swam was so great! It happens so rarely!

Great update. Great day. You sure had some great meals that day - BD and Boma - two of my favorites. I haven't eaten at Boma for several years, so I think its time to go back.

You got some beautiful pictures of HS and the savannah at AK. I love all the general viewing areas they have there. Its so cool to see the animals so up close and personal. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the animal with the big horns, but to be lopsided like that looks so uncomfortable.

Glad you got a little down time later in the evening with that yummy drink!

It was a good eating day for sure!!
Coming from you, Mary Ellen, complimenting my pictures, that is high praise! Thank you!!! I'm learning to take pictures a little better, and hope to study my camera settings more before our next trip.
Speaking of which, aren't you and some of the DIS moms going this spring? When is that? It wouldn't be mid-March by any chance?

Hurray for loving Boma!!! I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much! It sounds like your DH had much the same reaction to it that Charles does!

Dave is very much a "Meat is GOOD!" kind of guy. He's talking about those ribs ALL the time!! We went to dinner last night and he ordered ribs and made a comment about BOMA ribs!

Great update. Cute video of Paige dancing! AKL and Boma look awesome! We are going to visit the AKL for the first time ever on this trip, but we are just going to eat at Mara. Can't wait!

Sounds like a fun evening at the BC ad BW.

Paige LOVES to dance! You will be amazed at AKL - Mara has some good food too! Check out the shop, and hit the viewing area - lots of animals around!

Great update! I'm so glad you tried Boma and everyone liked it! We ate dinner there back on our Sept. 2009 trip and just loved it! Yum yum!

Spending time at AKL is so nice! We saw that lopsided Ankole Cattle on our June trip when we stayed at AKL. I think we have some video of him on our TR, even. I had wondered why he was so lopsided...thanks for finding out for me! I feel so sorry for him...poor guy!

Enjoying the report, looking forward to more. And congrats on your DVC!

Thanks! I have a feeling that Boma will be requested at every future trip!
Glad to do some research for you on the Ankole cattle! (Thanks - I had forgotten what it was called, and too lazy to look it up!)
Thanks on DVC- the more I think about it, the more excited I get! Now both DH and I are trying to save some money so we can add on points! And we haven't even used it once yet!!! Crazy!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I was thinking today how much I love the DIS and the boards. A lot of that is because of the people I have met, both virtually and in reality. I get so excited about telling you guys things, I will say out loud, I have to post this on the boards, or I have to tell my DIS friends! I know you all understand and don't think I'm crazy!
Plus, you have all been so helpful with information and tips, suggestions and all that. I can't believe how in two years time, this has become such a huge part of my life!!!
Some of you are Snowbirds on the snowbirds thread, and I posted something similar over there.
But in any event, I wanted to let you all know how much I value you and this virtual world we are all part of. Thanks!!!!

DH and I spent some time chatting about dining at WDW last night, and discussed making adrs for at least one TS per day, but not using DDP.
So - where should we eat??
We have Boma and Princess Storybook at Akershus on the list already.
No DHS this trip, just AK, MK and Epcot.
Let the suggestions begin!!!

(yes, I'm sort of combining a PTR in the middle of this TR! Is that allowed? )

 

[Charleston Princess]

I all my DIS board friends, too!

Are you thinking you want to eat in each of the parks you go to? What about LTT in the Magic Kingdom (I sure wish that new Beauty and the Beast restaurant they are building in Fantasyland was already open)?

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I all my DIS board friends, too!

Are you thinking you want to eat in each of the parks you go to? What about LTT in the Magic Kingdom (I sure wish that new Beauty and the Beast restaurant they are building in Fantasyland was already open)?

Jackie - it doesn't have to be in the parks. We are contemplating Tony's for MK or maybe going to GF or Poly for a meal.

I have two character meals planned (Akershus and Tusker House) so I don't NEED any more of them. I think our MK day we might want to just grab breakfast at the bakery or at the resort so maybe a late lunch/early dinner would work. I don't really want 2 sit down meals a day.
LTT might be okay for lunch. The dinner menu doesn't appeal to me, although it does to DH. I think Tony's would win out between the two.
I'd like to try GF Cafe maybe too. Of course, if I wait long enough to decide, it could be decided for me!

So when do you guys have your spring breaks? Easter is so late this year, I wondered if a lot of people had a week in March?

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Sunday August 1. Our last morning at Beach Club. Sigh. I was sad. Even though we weren’t going home, I wasn’t ready to leave!
We made the most of our last day.
We got up fairly early. Dave went over to the Swan/Dolphin and picked up our rental car. It was a Chevy HHR. BLACK!! Why would anyone in Florida drive a black car? Why would anyone in a southern state drive a black car? We could barely touch the door handles it was so bloody hot!! But I digress.

I packed up as much as I could. We had an ADR for breakfast at Cape May Cafe. We had a table in the main room near the entrance and the buffet. SIL and family also had an ADR there but we were not linked or seated nearby. I think theirs was earlier.
We enjoyed the buffet - Mickey waffles!, eggs, fruit, yogurt, bagels, breakfast pizza, cereal.... We had visits from Donald, Goofy and Mickey. We had to wait quite a while for Goofy to finally get to us. We were finished eating and all, but had to wait for him.

I took some pictures of the cute decor while we waited for Goofy.

Here he is!!

Once we loaded up the car, we were planning to go back to Epcot!!! YAY!! But on the way to the car, we saw our special greeter, Teena!! She is famous on the boards on the Yacht & Beach Club thread and is so helpful! So we managed a few minutes and a couple pictures with her. She gave us yet another tip - she told us that if we came back to WDW later in the week (which we planned on), we could park at BC if we wanted and go to Epcot. All we had to do was tell them we were going to Beaches and Cream. In the end we did not do that, but it was nice of her to suggest it.



We took a few candid shots around the lobby entrance.

I think we actually took these later, before we left the BC for good.

So we packed up the car, and headed to the IG one more time!!! We got FPs for Test Track and rode Spaceship Earth. We stopped in Mouse Gears and I got the window stickers of the people with Mickey ears for my car. Got the dog too!

We picked up our KP Mission to start at Norway. First, we rode the Gran Fiesta in Mexico and shopped. The girls spotted some cute glass slippers in the shop inside Mexico. We didn’t buy them then, but DH stopped in there later and picked them up.

We did our KP Mission in Norway

with a stop in the gift shop for pictures.

I hope it doesn't look like they're digging in his nose! They were told to rub the troll's nose for good luck!

I'm not sure what that boy was thinking..


Grabbed some CS lunch at the Lotus Blossom in China before continuing with our mission.

We worked hard to save China! Well DH and the girls did. I tried to take more pictures of things I hadn't noticed before.

Working to save the world from evil!

Cont. in next post.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

A couple more pretty pictures from China.

Then we were off to save Germany!

For some reason, I have no pictures of the mission - it must have been TOP SECRET!!!
But we did enjoy a visit with this lovely princess

Paige decided she did not want to ride Test Track after all. SO she and I stayed in WS and shopped more!!

DH and Sarah headed off toward TT. They passed our FPs along to someone else. I never did get to ride TT this trip! I'll have to upload the photopass pictures so I can show you their ride photo! Plus I think I have a better shot with Snow White.

We stopped in many of the countries that were left (going clockwise) - just to get some A/C! Italy, America, France, Morocco... I don't even know the correct order, but I'm sure that's not it!
We toured Italy where I picked up two Murano glass frames for my team at work. One of them now has a picture of me in it so I will be with them even when I’m at WDW!! HA!

A peek at the new Via Napoli restaurant in Italy before it opened.

Italy gift shop above the cash registers.

We smelled some perfumes, looked at jewelry, and just had a blast. I picked up a nice cool Grey Goose Slushie in France and then we decided we were hungry. Paige wanted tacos, so we headed to Mexico.

We stopped to check out these guys along the way:

But, since the Mexico CS was closed, they only had a small kiosk open, and they did not have tacos!! They didn’t have anything you could use CS credits for. GRRR. So we bought two churros! 2 more snack credits! Saved one for Sarah who should be meeting up with us soon.

Met up with DH and Sarah - who had gone back into Mexico and bought the glass slippers as well as had some Photopass pictures taken there. (again, I will have to upload them! I should have done that a long time ago!)

DH also went back into Mousegears and bought me a sweatshirt that I had seen. It was the only one that said WDW and did not have a hood. Very rare indeed!!!

We were pretty hot at this point, and it was getting late. We still wanted to get to DTD before heading to the beach, so we said goodbye to Epcot (sniff, sniff) and walked out the IG for the last time.
Back to the BC

Sarah was showing me how sad she was to be leaving BC!

We filled our mugs with soda and hopped in the HOT black rental.

Off to Downtown Disney!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Our spring break is the first week of April. It will be weird not having it with Easter.

Love, love, love Paige's sundress! It is so cute!

 

[MEK]

Can I just tell you how cute the girls' outfits are! I want that t-shirt. It's really one of the cutest I have seen anywhere.

Good bye BC! So sad to see you leave and have to give up your private entrance. Can I tell you that I used the parking for Beaches n Cream trick last May. Love that!

You got some beautiful pictures. Looking forward to more.

Hot, Black Car?

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

LOVE the girls' outfits. CUTE! CUTE!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I've heard great things about Cape May. Would you agree Sheree? It's definitely on our next-trip list. Goofy's shorts are hilarious!!

I so wanted to get those window stickers. Do they just peel off? With six of us, one cat and one dog, my whole back window would be filled. lol!!! I thought they were adorable though!

The girls' Mickey head outfits are simply adorable!! Where did you get them?

 

[Monny2AE]

Hmmmm haven't we seen your girls picking statue noses before...I'm sensing a trend!

I love their outfits too. Where did you get them? Are they handmade?

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Our spring break is the first week of April. It will be weird not having it with Easter.

Love, love, love Paige's sundress! It is so cute!

I am hoping that a lot of school still have a later break than ours. Then maybe WDW won't be super crowded!

Isn't that dress cute! She was all about the dresses on this trip, so we HAD to get it!! I knew you would appreciate it!

Can I just tell you how cute the girls' outfits are! I want that t-shirt. It's really one of the cutest I have seen anywhere.

Good bye BC! So sad to see you leave and have to give up your private entrance. Can I tell you that I used the parking for Beaches n Cream trick last May. Love that!

You got some beautiful pictures. Looking forward to more.

Hot, Black Car?

Thanks Mary Ellen! The girls didn't really want to be too matchy-matchy (well Sarah), but they both loved the pattern. I'm trying to remember if they had adult size shirts.

I surprised myself with some of the pictures, I hadn't really reviewed them much before uploading and posting!
I will file away the BC parking tip for future use!

LOVE the girls' outfits. CUTE! CUTE!

Thanks - we have gotten a lot of use out of those!

I've heard great things about Cape May. Would you agree Sheree? It's definitely on our next-trip list. Goofy's shorts are hilarious!!

I so wanted to get those window stickers. Do they just peel off? With six of us, one cat and one dog, my whole back window would be filled. lol!!! I thought they were adorable though!

The girls' Mickey head outfits are simply adorable!! Where did you get them?

I really liked Cape May - I've heard the dinner is good too if you like seafood. Maybe I'll try that someday.
The window stickers are cute - they do take up some space on my car too. We put them on the outside, and they've stayed on pretty good. I'm not sure that if you peel them off they would go back on though.

The outfits were part of our shopping at Zawadi marketplace at the AKL!! They have some cool stuff in there! You will not find them at any other resort, that's for sure. Maybe at AK, but I don't know.
I almost bought myself a t-shirt with a larger Mickey head with a brown/tan leopard print. I just can't remember if they had the pink in adult sizes.

Hmmmm haven't we seen your girls picking statue noses before...I'm sensing a trend!
You better believe it! We are a family of nose pickers! HA! JK!
I love their outfits too. Where did you get them? Are they handmade?

Handmade? Oh no, especially not by me!!! These lovely little outfits can be yours too - just head to the Animal Kingdom Lodge!!! I think Emily needs a dress like that!
We saw a little girl wearing that same sundress at CRT and she even had a matching headband! It was super cute! I can't remember why we didn't end up with one - maybe we didn't see them.